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I got asked again the other day about which I’d pick between a Quad Cortex and an FM9 and it spurred a slightly different line of thinking. Actually more components than I would have thought are shared between the Helix/QC and FM9/Axe, and I think that one of the things that we sometimes don’t discuss is the amount of algorithms included – after all, these are the expensive bits as they take real people sat coding to make…
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Fact check: Whilst HoTone boast of a library of 400+ effects…Looking on the actual unit at effects types there's less than 200
So, I have had (in order of Purchasing) Boss ME80, Helix LT, HX Stomp, Fractal FM3 and now the Quad Cortex. The last one I bought was a cheap bargain and I could not help myself and a bit surprisingly I like it the best. To my ears the FM3 sounds the best but the options are overwhelming and frankly too much for me. The QC is the easiest to work with to me.
With that said, I am not sure if I am going to keep it though, I really like the idea of a laptop rig, I have quite a few VST ones where my main one is S/Gear, still hoping for more of that from you, and HX Native. I like the Neural DSP ones as well, but for me I always return to S/Gear
I think the definition of value is so personal and subjective that it is difficult to make a generalisation. Some may prefer sheer volume of options whereas some may find that overwhelming, some may prefer the ability to tweak thousands of different parameters whereas some may prefer a simplified, more tactile user interface. For me I love the Fractal "ecosystem" because I love sound design, and tweaking. That's probably someone else's worst nightmare. I love having hundreds of different amps to choose from but some might just want a solid recreation of a Princeton and one decent Hall reverb. Horses for courses. It comes down to what your questions are. I'm yet to ask a question that the Fractal devices can't answer for me. But someone else's questions might be different
I must confess that Neural's somewhat odd relationship with the comunity is one of the reasons that made me order an FM9 rather than a QC. As a user, you clearly want as many content creators as possible showing what you can achieve with your modeler. It's fun and instructive. NDSP seems to be lacking in that department and they do nothing to improve the situation. How hard can it be to create a marketplace for captures and presets? Why not celebrate the fact that a gifted player such as yourself is showcasing their product? It's amazing how little NDSP seems to have learned from watching Line6 and Fractal.
Quite literal when I say this. The only thing I care about is what can I do with the device that I cannot do with something else. Right now, and for the past few years, the Helix Floor has best ticked the box in being a single device that covers the most unique, easily configurable options. I am still waiting to see where the FM9 🌈🦄💩 is going to fit in if they are ever actually able to make the unit available for sale.
I like having options, but I don't like hunting through them to find what I want.
Interesting. I've never thought about it this way. It's worth keeping that in mind although in the end, how many of these amps/effects we use? Thanks for the comparison.
Please do keep making videos and presets for the QC,. And the FM9. I am currently a helix user but I am trying to decide if I should take the leap and buy one or the other between the QC & FM9. Having a difficult time making up my mind on either one. Or. maybe I'd be better off waiting for something yet to be revealed…
Lots of companies throwing numbers around, but what matters is how good they sound, how easy they are to use, and the unique features. I don't need 400 amps, I just want stuff that sounds good and can do what I want.
Bottom line, Fractal once again wins. You get what you pay for- except with the QC. You don't get what you pay for.
Hi John. In all honesty, with a modeler with 300 amps and 400 effects, I'd be paying for 295 extra amps and 390 extra effects I will never use. I think the average guitarist has no use for all that excess, in my opinion… Cheers!
Please continue exploring more features and effects one can build with quad cortex, as it’s missing a lot. I also love when you go in details on how you had achieved that tone. Thank you 👌🏻🙌🏻
Really great intro, had me hooked all through that.
Interesting vid, the maths does indeed get fuzzy as hundreds of anything I believe starts to work against you.
One aspect you didn’t mention in comparisons so far was the overall ergonomics and physical layout / visibility from a musicians point of view. This is something I’d find particularly more important. On the floor vs on the desk or an amp stand, and how useable the thing is with or without a computer, on the road etc.
The QC really held my interest for a long while, but the lack of further hardware development has put me off. I could have said the same for the very early days of the helix but many of my small gripes got fixed as it matured. It is currently king of the hill for me, as presets work across any helix hardware, it’s now a very much more capable midi controller and even basic things like navigating presets and reversing the preset up and down, or customizing your own layout are possible.
Think that’ll make an interesting set of vids?
If say you’re dialing in sounds and you use all these constantly, how much does backups, swapping files between them affect you?
I feel we're getting to the point with modelers now where I for one can hardly tell which one is which from sound alone. So it pays to look at other factors such as hardware, UI, ease of use, support, build quality, community and price in order to make the right decision.
Sometimes less options are better than having infinite options. FM9 countless settings are just scary…
Can you do the Kemper too? What are your views on it? Thanks
I really appreciate the quad cortex vids brotha !
BTW, according to the Hotone website in their FAQ section: How do I pronouce Hotone? Is it HO TONE, HOT ONE, or HOT TONE? It's pronounced HOT TONE. 🙂
I am not a professional musician, so price matters to me. I am also 65 years old, so size and weight matter to me. This has resulted in me being mainly interested insmall form factor devices like the HX and Ampero Stomps, bith of which I own and like a lot. Like you, I believe you can dial in really good tones with most of these devices. Of course features and routing are areas where one might stand out compared to another. But as a non-professional, I can generally live with those limitations. I find with the HX Stomp that the 8 blocks can be a little limiting. Not that I need more blocks for most songs, but if I want to simulate a flexible rig in a single preset that can be used for most songs, 8 tends to not be enough. So I have to create additional presets, which is fine, but it means more maintenance. The Ampero II Stomp supports 12 blocks, which works out a bit better for my needs. And I find it a little easier to dial in than the HX Stomp (probably because there are fewer parameters). But the MIDI implementation is not as robust as on the HX Stomp, and I do use MIDI to supplement the 3 footswitches on both devices. Tradeoffs….
Thanks for this “down to Earth” discussion about gear. I have boxes of pedals of all different types, have been down the Headrush and the Stomp path but come back to my current pedalboard. So much depends on the amp, the guitar, the playing style and one’s ear. Have recently bought the Quad Cortex and really enjoy the ease and versatility of the unit BUT I am struggling to get a really crisp clean base tone. Everything seems to want to push to breakup which many like, but I play some stuff that I want crystal clean. I look forward to any and all the QC presets you create and upload. Thanks for your work John.
…but further to this discussion. More isn’t what I look for, it’s what is usable, functional and flexible. Thanks again John.
Yes please more QC vids. I agree, there aren’t a lot of people making usage videos or tone tips with it
My QC is on order so keep those coming!
Please keep making presets for QC thank you!
I check youtube regularly for videos you put out. They are really helpful to me as I break into the modeling world with the Quad Cortex. So, thank you!
Yes on quad cortex! You dial things similar to me and it’s extremely helpful to see how you go about it!
As John mentions near the end of the video, you can get great sounds from all of them. A very important part of the gear is the ease of use. I've had an AFX3 and it sounded great, but I had to have my PC with me to program it. Now using a Helix and I find it does the job fine. I can grab a preset from John, play with it a little and I'm good. I spend more time playing with my guitar and less time trying to find the right menu.
Yes, please keep making QC content. Thank you.
More QC please.
Who actually needs 300 amp models to choose from? I haven’t used my HX Stomp for guitar amp models (just bass amp models, and some effects) because I find that the three amp models available in my ACS1 are enough most of the time for use as a pedal platform. I am glad I have more amp models to use in the Stomp, and plan on incorporating the Matchless model at some point. Options are great, to a point, but I think quality, and more simply applicability, are probably more important to me for what and where I play.
After a couple of years I turn my old Axe Fx Ultra on and I found it really great! I re discovered it…sounds amazing!
In my world you’ve got to factor in the capture feature and size of the QC to make a fair cost comparison. While lacking in quantity of amps/effects: it’s got features that none of the other modelers provide and still sounds great.
I love my HX Stomp and am thinking of moving to a larger unit. QC, FM9, or Helix. Don’t know yet.
Please Do Head Rush 😭
Fractal's amp list is tempting to me, just cause there's some of my favourite amps missing in helix. I miss an engl savage/blackmore and a marshall jubilee model most of all. But imo the biggest advantage helix has is the fact that native exists. Recording with plugins is just so much morr streamlined, and native is by far the most complete plugin suite on the market. You can record a whole band with nothing but helix native, it cleans up the whole process so much, and if you have a helix device it's an absolute steal for 100 bucks. The fact that you have your physical device available on your PC as well and the two can communicate is such a massive practicality boost.
The Boss GT 1000 rules in two important areas
1) zero delay in switching between patches , not to mention the reverb tails stay.
2) Number of simultaneous effects . If I’m not mistaken it’s 24 at once
I sold all my amps and pedals and needed a do-it-all device that was reliable and cheap. I chose the Helix LT. I have nothing to compare it with and can't afford anything else, so I just tell myself it was the best choice 😂
Holy shit please keep making Quad cortex videos and videos about other neural products while you’re at it.
Review every one of their plugins and contact them with a link to each video
Before I jumped on the Helix wagon, as far as modeling, I used only Yamaha THR amps and LOVED the simplicity. I do enjoy the options Helix gives me but the immediate gratification I could get from Yamaha limited controls/sounds was pretty awesome. I find myself tweaking Helix for hours. Hours I could spend just playing.
Am I selling Helix? No! But for day to day use/jamming/playing it can be over the top a little bit.
I could probably get away with 2-3 amps, 2 reverbs, 2 delays, chorus, compression 80% of the time. It is the remaining 20% where "it's good to have Helix", just in case 😉